Native American Heritage Month

Welcome to Native American Heritage Month at RCC

November is Native American Heritage Month. The month is a time to celebrate the rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories. It is an excellent time to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ brilliance, to honor and acknowledge their contributions to our culture and planet. Living in Rockland County we are surrounded by such rich history & traditions with those of the Ramapough-Lunaape People. The committee invites you to check out some of our programming happening this month and take the opportunity to learn about Indigenous ways of life & wisdom.

Iroquois Thanksgiving Address

2022 Native American Heritage Month Events

All events are free and open to the public.

Upcoming Events

2022 Native American Heritage Month Chair

Inez Rivera

Native American Heritage Month Recommended Readings

Readings recommended by FirstNations.org. Excerpts taken from Amazon Books.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee book cover

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee by Dee Brown

First published in 1970, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is Dee Brown’s eloquent, meticulously documented account of the systematic destruction of American Indians during the second half of the nineteenth century.

Using council records, autobiographies, and firsthand descriptions, Brown introduces readers to great chiefs and warriors of the Dakota, Ute, Sioux, Cheyenne, and other tribes, revealing in heart wrenching detail the battles, massacres, and broken treaties that methodically stripped them of freedom. A forceful narrative still discussed today as revelatory and controversial, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee permanently altered our understanding of how the American West came to be defined.

All the Real Indians Died Off book cover

All The Real Indians Died Off and 20 Other Myths About Native Americans by Roxanne Dunbar- Ortiz and Dino Gilio- Whitaker

In this enlightening book, scholars and activists Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker tackle a wide range of myths about Native American culture and history that have misinformed generations. Tracing how these ideas evolved, and drawing from history, the authors disrupt long-held and enduring myths. All the Real Indians Died Off challenges listeners to rethink what they have been taught about Native Americans and history.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask book cover

Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask by Anton Treuer

What have you always wanted to know about Indians? Do you think you should already know the answers-or suspect that your questions may be offensive? In matter-of-fact responses to over 120 questions, both thoughtful and outrageous, modern and historical, Ojibwe scholar and cultural preservationist Anton Treuer gives a frank, funny, and sometimes personal tour of these questions.

Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians but Were Afraid to Ask cuts through the emotion and builds a foundation for true understanding and positive action.

Wisdom Keepers: Meetings with Native American Spiritual Elders book cover

Wisdom Keepers:  Meetings with Native American Spiritual Elders by Steve & Ardern Wall

Rich with magnificent photographs and powerful words, this book takes the reader into the inner thoughts, jokes, healing remedies, and humanity of Native American spiritual elders—otherwise known as the Wisdomkeepers. In their own words elders from the Sioux, Iroquois, Seminole, Ojibwe, Hopi, Ute, Pawnee, and other tribes explain who they are, how they live, and what they believe. This is a sharing of wisdom going back millennia, yet never more relevant than today.